TRAI invites EoI to empanel companies for inspection of TV households under new framework

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has invited expression of interest (EoI) for empanelment of companies for inspection of consumer TV households in respect of new regulatory framework for broadcasting and cable TV services.

The regulator said that the aim of the EoI is to invite technical proposals from reputed bidders for conducting a door-to-door inspection by reaching out to consumer households and checking the TV Services of the consumer on the various parameters of the regulations.

The deadline for submitting is 27th May while the last date for seeking clarification is 21st May.

The technical bids will be evaluated based on technical solution/proposal submitted by the bidder. The bidders may be called to make presentation to EOI evaluation committee constituted for this purpose. The bidder will have to make the presentations and shall furnish the clarifications/detailed explanations, if any, sought on the technical proposals by TRAI or EOI evaluation committee.

The scope of work includes:

a) Devising a physical/electronic form for inspection of the consumers on the various provisions of the regulations and Tariff Order. Some of the major points are mentioned in the EoI.

b) Visiting the consumer households, checking some of the parameters on the TV Screen itself
c) Recording the consumers feedback in the physical/online form devised.

d) To cover households of different DPOs (5-10 households per DPO)

e) Support of different languages in the devised form according to the languages spoken in different states of the country.

f) Report generation based on the data collected explicitly highlighting the contraventions of the various provisions of the regulations/tariff order by the DPOs.

g) Report to be generated on the following criteria:

• State-wise

• Digital Addressable Systems (DAS) area wise as notified by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB)

• DPO wise

The TRAI will select the panel of companies based on the criteria for shortlisting/evaluation detailed in the EoI. The period of empanelment shall be valid for two years from the date of empanelment of the concerned company.

The authority also said that it reserves the right to extend the empanelment for a further period, on request of the company and after ascertaining/ assessment of their performance during the empanelment.

Interested companies will have to be registered under the Companies Act 2013, as amended from time to time OR an LLP under the Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2008 OR a registered Partnership Firm;

They should have a minimum average annual turnover of Rs. 50 lakh in the immediate two preceding financial years. They should also have the experience, either on its own or through any of its partner/employee of (i) at least one year in the physical inspection of consumer households; or (ii) at least one year in the survey in various sectors such as telecom, broadcasting, power, and gas.

Further, the company/LLP firm should not have been disqualified or blacklisted by any department of State Government/Central Government or any Bank or Financial Institution or any statutory body or any professional body. The company/LLP/firm should not have been held guilty of criminal misconduct at any point in time.

The company/LLP/firm shall be well-versed with the broadcasting and distribution industry and must be proficient in understanding the various networks of the Distribution Platform Operators (DPOs) and reach to the customers of different Distributors. The company should have sufficient number of ground staff spread across PAN India with basic knowledge of IT to carry out the inspection.

The eligible companies will be evaluated on the basis of the number of years of operation, average annual turnover in the last two financial years, the experience of inspection of consumer households, number of DPOs for which survey/inspection/audit has been carried out, and infrastructure and facilities.

Each of the criteria carries points and eligible companies having secured 60 or more points would be considered for empanelment. The eligible companies may be invited to make a presentation at a date, time and location intimated by TRAI. The purpose of such presentations would be to allow the companies to present their technical proposal, approach, and methodology and other key points in the proposals.

TRAI, during the evaluation process, may seek verbal/written clarifications to address ambiguities and uncertainties in the proposals. TRAI’s decision in this regard shall be final and binding and no further discussion/interaction will be held with the unsuccessful applicants.

The television broadcasting sector consists of approximately 1143 active MSOs, 5 private DTH operators, 39 pay-TV Broadcasters, one operational HITS operator and a few IPTV operators in the country. The size and network of service providers are quite varied as some of them have a huge subscriber base, while there are many medium and small distributors.